The Right Idea
by HecateA
Summary: For someone who's in her shop every few weeks, Tonks thinks Remus has very little ink to show for it. Tattoo Shop!AU. Oneshot.


**Author's Note:** Simultaneously a Tattoo Shop AU and a "Sirius and Remus raise Harry" AU, because if we're throwing out playbooks we might as well burn the playbook archives down. Enjoy!

**Hogwarts posting info:** Ravenclaw. Written for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Assignment 11, Psychology of Memory Task #1: "Write about an important first. (eg. first kiss, first date). Alt, write about knowing something is the last time."

**Disclaimer:** The following characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and this story derives from her original works, storylines, and world. Please do not sue me, I can barely pay tuition.

**Warnings:** Needles, physical insecurities, scars, and cover-up tattoos as running theme.

* * *

**Stacked with:** MC4A; Shipping War; Terms of Service; Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

**Individual Challenge(s):** Gryffindor MC (x2); Hufflepuff MC; Bow Before the Blacks; Seeds; Tiny Terror (Y); True Colours; Long Haul (Y); Yellow Ribbon; Yellow Ribbon Redux

**Representation(s):** Tattoo Shop AU

**Bonus challenge(s):** Second Verse (Not a Lamp); Chorus (Machismo); Demo (Odd Feathers; Wabi Sabi; Found Family; Bee Haven; Mouth of Babes; Tomorrow's Shade; Creature Feature; Surprise!; Getting On)

**Tertiary bonus challenge:** NA

**Word Count:** 2710

* * *

_**Shipping Wars**_

**Ship (Team):** Nymphadora Tonks and Remus Lupin (Technicolour Moon)

**List (Prompt):** Spring Medium 2 (Tattoo Shop AU)

* * *

**The Right Idea**

Remus leaned back in his chair and rested his head against his hand as he watched the needle, in the artist's careful hand, put the finishing touches on Sirius' back.

The sketch the tattooist had drawn up for him had been pinned to the fridge in anticipation for weeks. About the same amount of time that Sirius had nagged Remus about his appointment for while claiming that he'd die of boredom if Remus didn't come along to keep him company. When he was in a particularly passive-aggressive mood, Sirius would ask Remus if he'd found a babysitter for Harry yet while they went to his appointment.

So there was Remus, sitting. And there was Sirius, laying on his stomach, shirt off, with his hair up in a bun so it was out of the way.

"Hanging in there, Sirius?" Tonks asked.

"Don't you see me enough to know that I'm a pro?" Sirius asked.

"Well," Tonks said. "It would be rude of me not to ask if you needed a break—and it is your biggest piece yet."

She shook a stray piece of hair out of her face and returned to her work. Remus couldn't tell what the biggest contrast was; the black ink against Sirius' pale skin, her pink hair against her yellow sweater, or the red and blue earrings dangling from her ears. Also worth noting was that her shoes were mismatched—one was orange, one was purple, and both were severely beat up. He'd been trying to figure out if her socks matched for some time now. There were paint splatters and scribbles on her jeans, including an address scribbled in ink.

"You, Remus?" Tonks asked.

"Me? Oh, yes, I'm fine," Remus said.

"There's water in the back. Juice boxes for the fainters too," she said, not looking up.

"I'm fine," Remus said.

"He's as frequent of a flyer as I am," Sirius said. "He's at home here."

"That's true," Tonks said. This time she did pause her work and look up at Remus. "Never gotten any work done on yourself though, have you?"

"No," Remus said. "I wouldn't cheat on you with another artist."

"Appreciate that," she grinned. "It's too bad. You have that thoughtful, timid, bookish look to you."

"Meaning that I should enhance my bad boy status with body art?" Remus suggested.

"No, no," she said. "I was going to suggest that you'd probably have very good ideas."

"He's the one who suggested the lion you're doing," Sirius blurted.

"Sirius," Remus said warningly. He didn't want to encourage this line of questioning.

"It was a good idea," Tonks said. "Would you ever be interested, Remus?"

"Probably not," Remus said.

"Are you waiting for the right idea?" Tonks asked. "Afraid of needles? Pain? Commitment?"

"It's a long story," Remus said. His hands bunched around the end of his long sleeves which he tugged and twisted. If Lily were there, she'd tell him to cut it out.

"Well, Sirius will be back for his follow-up session next week," she said. "That way I can lay the enchantments in the piece. Sirius, did you want to have a look before I dress and bandage it?"

"Hell yeah," Sirius said, propping himself up on his elbows. The tattoo on his back, half of a lion's head, was beautiful, simple line art with just enough shading for the feline to come to life. The only colour involved was in the animal's bright, amber eyes. Remus was impressed.

"And then I have to go pee because I've been holding it in for about an hour now," Sirius said.

"I_ offered_ you multiple breaks," Tonks huffed.

She cleaned up her station while Sirius was away. Remus' eyes scanned the tattoo parlour as they waited, and his eyes dawned on the sketches from her portfolio hanging on the wall. She did do beautiful work. There were mermaids sitting on stones that dove back into the waves as soon as Remus looked at them, unicorns that shook their manes back, stars that burst and reformed themselves, banshees whose eyes blinked open and shut just beneath the hem of their hoods, vines that grew in twists and turns…

"You know, I'm going to draw you some things," Tonks said. "You're not obligated to have them put into your skin forever, obviously. But maybe the right idea will change your mind."

"I promise, I don't look down on your work—your art—and at tattoos or the people who have them," Remus said. "It's not just for me."

"Okay," Tonks said. "But you've already given me some ideas to draw, so I'll do that anyways."

* * *

Applying the enchantments to the tattoo obviously took longer than inking out the design in the first place. But the lion had gone from beautiful to stunning. Every now and then a gentle breeze seemed to ruffle its mane, or it blinked. Remus even saw it roar, exposing a mouthful of teeth, which he didn't understand at all since he hadn't seen her draw the latter.

"If you ever need it to freeze, if you're at a Muggle beach or engaged in some other kind of recreational activity that requires it, just give it your command word," Tonks said, pulling off her gloves. "For the first week, you'll want to keep it active to make sure that the charm takes..."

"I know the drill," Sirius said, clearly distracted by the lion he was watching in the mirror.

"Listen, I am being a good, responsible tattoo artist and giving you aftercare instructions as I should," Tonks said. Remus took the pamphlet from her.

"I'll make sure he takes care of it," Remus said.

"Thank you. Now go put your shirt back on and get out of here," Tonks told Sirius. "You can pay at the front desk with Kingsley. Don't try bullshitting about a family discount this time, you know that's not a real thing."

Once they were alone again, she held out her hand and her sketchbook flew to it. She held the sketching pen that was stuck to its cover between her teeth as she sifted through the pages until she found what she was looking for. He smiled at her drawings.

There was a cup of tea whose teabag bobbed up and down. A silver spoon that launched what appeared to be peas across the page. A puddle disturbed by rain drops every few seconds, each one creating a new and unique splash. A pack of cards that shuffled itself. Scissors opening and shutting. A sweet whose wrapper twisted open. An open book whose pages flipped. Clouds gently drifted across the page.

"These are beautiful," Remus said. His eyes lingered on the puddle especially long.

"Do you like it?" Tonks said.

"Absolutely," Remus said. "I mean, if I _had_ to get something on my skin forever, it would be that. But it's still a no."

"Okay," Tonks said. She shut the textbook. "You're fun to draw, that's all."

"You didn't draw me."

"I'm trying," she said.

* * *

Sirius was an impulsive piece of shit if nothing else, which meant that they were back at Poisoned Ink Tattoo Parlour very soon after.

Sirius did like this particular tattoo, however. On the fifth anniversary of James and Lily's deaths, he had a snitch inked on the back of his hand. Harry had helped him pick.

The sketch of the puddle was now hanging on the wall of the shop.

"Has someone picked up that design, yet?" Remus asked as Tonks worked.

"No," she said. "Or the ones next to it. Well, to be honest they're not for sale."

The drawing next to it was an apple tree, whose apples appeared and disappeared as he watched.

A line of evergreens against a starry sky. He looked at it for a long time before a comet streaked the sky, which made the animation more stunning.

A moth, beating its wings.

A log cabin whose windows glowed yellow when the lights were on, though they also shut.

"Beautiful," he said.

She smiled.

* * *

They were there to animate the snitch, now. Harry had come along and sat on Remus' lap, his legs dangling.

"Does it hurt?" Harry asked, looking at the needle.

"Not really," Sirius said. "You get used to it really quickly, it's kind of relaxing."

"That explains how often I see you here," Tonks said. Today her hair was a shade of teal that Harry had whispered his admiration for in Remus' ear earlier in the session. "Though I am always taking new customers. Harry, are you up for it?"

"Yes!"

"No," Sirius said.

"Sirius you have _a thousand_," Harry complained.

"Do as I say, not as I do," Sirius said. "Until you're of age, at least."

"Could Remus get one?" Harry asked.

Remus fluffed Harry's hair once and then got very, very interested in the new art on the wall.

Harry loved the animation, and when Sirius stood up he ran around his godfather to try and keep track of the little winged ball. The lion seemed quite annoyed by this new pest. Remus wondered if Tonks' magic was powerful enough that, should the lion be annoyed enough, it would eat up this new pest. That would be a fun one to explain to Harry.

While Sirius and Harry paid, Tonks hugged her sketchbook to her chest. She tucked a stray piece of hair back.

"Cute kid," she said. "It's good that he has you two taking care of him."

"He's the best," Remus confirmed.

Tonks only had one drawing for him today, but it was his favourite yet. It was Excalibur, the sword in the stone. The animation surrounding it was especially intricate. At first, vines wound their way up around the sword. From there, roses sprouted. Then the vegetation shrivelled back down and the stone cracked, revealing a detailed geode so real Remus' fingertips conjured its bumpy interior. The sword fell out then and melted away.

"This is…" Remus shook his head. "Beautiful."

"I thought you'd like it," Tonks smiled.

"Tonks?" he said, then. "Stop drawing these things. I… I feel guilty, when you show them to me, because no matter how beautiful they are, there's no such thing as 'the right idea' and I will always say no. I'm sorry."

She shut the sketchbook, eyes worried.

"I wasn't trying to pressure you…"

"I know, I know," Remus said. He felt himself bunching up his sweater sleeves in his hands. "Look, I'm… I'm not a healthy person. Healers have done their best for me and they've cut me open to try and fix me more times than I can count, but my skin isn't the smooth canvas that Sirius' is."

Tonks nodded. Then she shrugged off her cardigan and showed him her left forearm where a phoenix with dark, elegant feathers along its wings sat.

"She's my first tattoo," Tonks said. "She's perched on a scar I have—an old thing, from an old accident, but it drove me crazy that I couldn't change it like I can change the rest of me. I absolutely hated it. So I made it something I liked, instead. It's not for everyone, I know that, and again, I would never tell you what to do with your own body. But you should know that you have options."

Remus chewed his lip and nodded.

"Thank you," he said simply. Then he heard Harry calling his name. He may have accidentally promised the small child ice cream earlier today, and of course Harry hadn't forgotten. "I should go."

"Of course," she said. "I'll see you around."

He was in the door frame when she called his name again.

"Oh, and Remus?"

He turned around.

"I don't mind drawing for you," she said. "I like what I see when I do."

* * *

He thought about it long and hard.

What sealed the deal was when he put Harry to bed one night and kissed him goodnight. Harry's lightning scar jumped out to him, for whatever reason. Of course, he'd had Harry for so long that he didn't notice the scar anymore—not as much as when he and Sirius had first been landed with this baby, after James and Lily died. They'd spent hours worrying about it, about whether it bothered him, about whether there would be any long-term consequences…

Now, Harry seemed to be okay with it. He went to a fairly small Muggle primary school and had been around the same children for so long that the topic of the scar was banale to his classmates and rarely came up. But soon, he would be going to Hogwarts, where things would be inherently different. Where he would be surrounded by strangers, where stories of the scar already existed in the public eye, and Remus worried about that. They had done their best by Harry; had passed on everything that they knew about Lily and James, had been honest about his circumstances, and had made sure that the little boy was loved and provided for. And Remus wondered, and feared, that maybe he had passed on his own shyness, his own discomfort with his own body, to Harry too. Without even trying, of course, but intentions so rarely mattered.

He would tell Harry to be proud of the lightning scar, if it ever came out, because it marked him as a survivor and stood as a reminder of just how much his parents had loved him. He didn't have such nice things to say about the mess that was his own skin, but he would have to try.

And so Remus sent Tonks an owl. It was a bit of a blur, but he did remember writing down the phrase: _draw anything._

* * *

He had suspected, and knew when he arrived, that Tonks had kept the tattoo shop open after hours.

"You didn't have to go to the lengths," Remus said.

"I wanted you to be comfortable," Tonks said. "Let me show you what I had planned…"

"No," Remus said. "I want it to be a surprise. Just draw it."

"You trust me so much," Tonks joked.

"Yes," he replied quite seriously. "I do."

* * *

The sleeve, which went from his shoulder to his wrist, took her hours. She played music to fill in the silence and the lulls in their conversation. She gave him breaks, checked in often since this was after all his first tattoo—and a big piece to start with, too.

He closed his eyes for long stretches of time, focusing on the feeling of the needle traversing his skin. Whenever he looked at his arm, his breath was a little bit taken away. He had asked her to do his left arm, which was by far in worst shape than the right, and she hadn't even flinched when she saw the scar and tissue damage she would have to work with. And by the time she was done, Remus was shocked by how little he saw it too.

The sleeve on his arm was mostly made of elegant lilies gracefully topping long stems. It was joined by blooming roses, a sunflower, sprigs of lavender, a sophisticated orchid, detailed leaves in twos and threes, and other small flowers filling in the space. She had turned his skin from a dead thing he hid, for fear of it being stared at, into something as alive as a garden, that was meant to be seen.

"Do you like it?" Tonks asked nervously.

He looked at her and didn't know what to say.

"If you don't like it, we have charms to remove the ink within the first 24 hours," she promised. "This one's on the house, honestly, so if you don't like it…"

"I love it," he said, which felt woefully inadequate. He ran his fingers along one of the lilies' petals before looking back up to Tonks. "How do you look at people and see exactly what they need?"

"You act as if it was difficult to look at you and imagine a thousand possibilities," she said.

Remus felt himself blush, but smile. It made Tonks smile back.

"I suppose you did have the right idea all along," he said.

"I suppose I did," she smiled back. "You can take me out for dinner to thank me, if you like."

Remus smiled more.


End file.
